Do top disgolfers get their air fair and lodging paid for by their sponsors? I saw first place at the Aussie open is $6000 AU and getting $6000 to play disc golf is awesome but after you take out taxes and travel expenses that is not much to live on. any pros on here who can speak to this?
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Question About Pro Disc Golf
- Thread starter Rowick
- Start date
I'm definitely no pro, and I'm sure someone will chime in as there are a few on here, McBeth is on here but doesn't appear to post all too often. From what I've read and understand, the higher up pro's get lodging and airfare and such paid for by companies. I'm sure it boils down to how good you are and how large the company is that sponsors you. I'm sure some of the local companies wouldn't foot the bill for that, but companies like Innova, Discraft and such I would imagine at least pay a percentage of the costs.
allinpflop
Eagle Member
Disc golfers who play pro definitely don't do it for the money....even if you are one of the best players in the world you are lucky to make 50k a year.....that's not even enough to live on for me. Forget travel and expenses.
That's something I've always been curious about. Not that I'm ever going to be in their position, but you see the likes of Wysocki, McBeth type guys and they're 110% disc golf. No 9-5's, or at least it doesn't appear that way. I'm thinking they have to be supplemented by the companies that sponsor them, doing clinics, appearances, disc sales, and tournament winnings.
turbosteve
Eagle Member
McBeth gets huge bonuses every time he wins. He also gets decent royalty checks from disc sales as well. A lot of people would be shocked by the amount of money he made in 2014.
Halcón
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Do you have a decent estimate? Shocking to me would be over $100,000, considering the game we play.
He made nearly $50,000 in winnings alone last year. I'd see $75,000-$100,000 as a real possibility.
turbosteve
Eagle Member
I don't know the exact figures but McBeth gets a decent bonus each time he wins a tournament. He gets substantial royalties from the McPro series on the pro shop. He also gets royalties on his signature line of discs which include the Champion Thunderbird and Roc3. He also has sponsorship deals with GripEq and Crush Clothing. Redbull recently started sponsoring him as well. This information leads me to believe that he cleared the $100,000 mark in 2014. Plus McBeth gave a hint on this website that he cleared the $100,000 mark.
This is from Avery Jenkins from this website:
Our Sponsors actually pay us pretty well as far as bonuses go. These bonuses are considered to be used on such things as food, gas and other travel expenses throughout the tour season.
But you right by saying that currently very few players can actually make a living at this sport due to the high competitive level. Eventhough I have been doing this for a living for the past 8 years now and I don't plan on quitting anytime soon.
So an answer to the question is: I make enough playing this year in and year out to get back out there following season and do it all over again. Because I truly love this game and will do everything possible to increase its popularity as a sport.
Our Sponsors actually pay us pretty well as far as bonuses go. These bonuses are considered to be used on such things as food, gas and other travel expenses throughout the tour season.
But you right by saying that currently very few players can actually make a living at this sport due to the high competitive level. Eventhough I have been doing this for a living for the past 8 years now and I don't plan on quitting anytime soon.
So an answer to the question is: I make enough playing this year in and year out to get back out there following season and do it all over again. Because I truly love this game and will do everything possible to increase its popularity as a sport.
The Happy Gilmore
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My guess is 75,000 just from winnings/ salary and bonuses. Plus some sort of stipend for gas/entry fees/food etc so lets say 5,000. There's roughly 80,000 there. And disc sales of about 20,000 maybe??? I bet 100,000 before expenses
turbosteve
Eagle Member
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2387277#post2387277
This post leads me to believe he cleared the $100,000 mark.
This post leads me to believe he cleared the $100,000 mark.
discguy42
Double Eagle Member
I know you can see any persons winnings for the year and lifetime on the PDGA website just by clicking on a players name on any results posted.
Pauls tourney winnings are listed as $40,906.96. Not that much in the sense of being the most dominate player on tour this year...That is all before he is taxed on it, I hear the state likes their share of the money in CA.
Side note about taxes: My wife teaches Yoga and makes up to $3000 a year as a side job, not her 9 to 5. She is paid as a contracted employee (no taxes withheld) at the studio. Come tax time the Feds take about 35/40% of that money. We now OVER pay our federal taxes at or other jobs to break about even at tax time, that makes our tax refund about $100 or so when its done, so we don't OWE anything.
I don't know about any of his sponsorship earnings and any expenses they cover or reimburse him for.
I can imagine touring can take a hit out of even that amount of winnings. Gas, food, lodging and living on the road for periods of time cant be cheap.
I say to Paul, you are only going around once, take all the world will provide you with! I really don't care how much the man makes, that's his business.
Money is not everything, it damn sure helps in this existence though! Doing something you love AND not working for the MAN in the daily grind is worth more than anything. I have done the same job for 26 years and I feel that is about 6 years too long. I will have a chance to buy the business I work for/manage in a year or so...I don't even care, now I don't even want to own the place, I don't even want to go to work there everyday! I am tired of working the 10 to 6, Tuesday thru Saturday!
Pauls tourney winnings are listed as $40,906.96. Not that much in the sense of being the most dominate player on tour this year...That is all before he is taxed on it, I hear the state likes their share of the money in CA.
Side note about taxes: My wife teaches Yoga and makes up to $3000 a year as a side job, not her 9 to 5. She is paid as a contracted employee (no taxes withheld) at the studio. Come tax time the Feds take about 35/40% of that money. We now OVER pay our federal taxes at or other jobs to break about even at tax time, that makes our tax refund about $100 or so when its done, so we don't OWE anything.
I don't know about any of his sponsorship earnings and any expenses they cover or reimburse him for.
I can imagine touring can take a hit out of even that amount of winnings. Gas, food, lodging and living on the road for periods of time cant be cheap.
I say to Paul, you are only going around once, take all the world will provide you with! I really don't care how much the man makes, that's his business.
Money is not everything, it damn sure helps in this existence though! Doing something you love AND not working for the MAN in the daily grind is worth more than anything. I have done the same job for 26 years and I feel that is about 6 years too long. I will have a chance to buy the business I work for/manage in a year or so...I don't even care, now I don't even want to own the place, I don't even want to go to work there everyday! I am tired of working the 10 to 6, Tuesday thru Saturday!
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Ive always been under the impression that the top couple of guys make a good living at it and for everyone else its more of a passion thing. I know Ken Climo has done really well over the years with all his royalties.
The 100k number for McBeth sounds about right to me. I mean, dude bought a challenger and toured in it for a year, so he cant be doing too bad
The 100k number for McBeth sounds about right to me. I mean, dude bought a challenger and toured in it for a year, so he cant be doing too bad
I wouldn't be surprised if that Challenger wasn't included in said royalties, or at least a % of it.
Someone mentioned his home a while back and how it doesn't look like he makes much money based on that, however I think he's smart, and is likely rooming or renting a smaller house for cheap, heck the guy is never home since he's always touring, he has no use for a huge house right now.
:thmbup: Lots of other things to consider also outside of taxes which are the biggest bitch. Not sure how DG players are set up but I would assume 1099 status not employees. This would mean a lot of "costs" associated with being a disc golfer could be written off, I believe. Do DG companies offer healthcare and retirement?
Hell people can make it doing X/Y/Z jobs which pay less than being a disc golfer so no reason to see why if you love DG you couldn't make a living out of it. Probably wont become the next Donald Trump but something tells me the legacy and MVP brothers are raking in some serious coin and not just b/c they are winning tournaments!
compared to areas of MN or TX those "huge" houses are 5-10x more costly in CA. Its stupid how much higher real estate prices can be in cities and suburbs out there.
That's true, I typically don't consider that the places we live, real estate is tons cheaper than anything in CA.
Duane1985
Newbie
Doesn't Mcbeth live in Florida? Pretty sure they don't have state income taxes.
zeerobb
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Halcón
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No, he's gone back to his hometown of Huntington Beach, California.
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